Wednesday Wine Rant - 03/26/08 - Brunello, Brunello - say it ain’t so.
March 26, 2008 by michael
I LOVE BRUNELLO. You all are aware that Brunello di Montalcino is one of my favorite wines. The “Brunello” grape is a specific clone of the Sangiovese grape that is unique to the area surrounding Montalcino (Tuscany), having first been planted in the 1800’s by the Biondi Santi family. Today, Brunello di Montalcino is one of Italy’s most prized wines made by over 200 producers, all who have to stick to the basic formula:
- 100% Brunello clone of Sangiovese
- Normale Bottling: released 50 months after harvest (minimum 2 years aged in wood, 4 in bottle)
- Riserva bottling: released 62 months after harvest (minimum 2 years aged in wood, 4 in bottle)
The result of this process is a beautiful developed wine with concentrated, ripe fruits when young and delicate tannins with age. (Image taken this past November of downtown Montalcino, from the fortress!).
No one likes a cheat. It seems like some Montalcino vinters aren’t playing by the rules. Wine Spectator’s James Suckling blogged on the topic last week, mentioning the allegations that some winemakers are adding other grapes to their Brunello blend to make it more fashionable for todays wine consumer. He noted that this was merely allegations and no formal accusations were made towards any one vineyard.
Well today, our friends at Vinowire.com have reported that they have direct confirmation from the president of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, Stefano Campatelli, stating that the allegations are in fact under investigation and it appears there is some truth to them. I have contacted the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino for further comment and will update you when I hear anything.
From Vinowire: “Stefano Campatelli, who has confirmed that “irregularities” have been found in wines labeled as Brunello produced by at least twenty producers in Montalcino. According to outside sources who have requested anonymity because they were not permitted to speak publicly about the investigation, that number could be as high as 80 or 90.”
Please, say it ain’t so…
For more on the topic, check out the story on Vinowire.com. I’m almost afraid to follow this story to find out which of my beloved Brunello producers are guilty of this terrible crime. More reading and initial report here: Vino al vino
This is so sad…Its too bad that the producers couldn’t just create blends along with the traditional 100% Brunellos and advertise them accordingly. Sure, maybe they couldn’t charge the same high prices for these blends right away, but that could change in the future if they appealed to people as predicted. If there truly is a widespread epidemic of tainted Brunellos, then in the long-run these producers are really hurting themselves by tarnishing their reputations. As with most things in life, it really isn’t necessary to mess around with perfection. If you do decide to change perfection in some way then you had better put it in another bottle and not continue to call it a Brunello!
Wow, bummer. However, I think it’s happening in many areas of Europe where they are trying to update the wine by adding other varietals. However, like in Priorat, which has always been Grenache they are now adding Cab, not illegally, but it’s happening, it’s changing. I’m sorry about your favorite wine.
“This is so sad…Its too bad that the producers couldn’t just create blends along with the traditional 100% Brunellos and advertise them accordingly.”
They can. Sant’Antimo DOC is a catchall appellation established to give Brunello producers somewhere to place their non-Brunello wines, for example if they have a Cabernet-Sangiovese blend. Or if they make a white that’s not a Moscadello.
This is a sad story, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better, I fear, because it’s much more difficult to sweep a vineyard with vines that shouldn’t be there under the rug than it is to explain away wines from out of region that happen to be in the cellar.
A few years ago Brolio convinced a judge that the 900 hectoliters (more than 100,000 bottles) of southern wine they had in their tanks wasn’t for blending with Chianti, but to be sold as table wine in (if I remember right) Japan. You can say the illegal varietals in your appellation vineyard are there to go into a different wine (some seem to be saying this), but that doesn’t get around the fact that they shouldn’t be there in the first place, and when you have a number of hectares of the illegal vines the “into another wine” defense becomes shaky indeed.
Kyle
In case you were wondering, I’ll be writing about this too.